I have been meaning to play through the original Halo trilogy for a while now, I played 1 and 2 to death when growing up but I never owned a 360 so didn't get the chance to play 3. I remember vividly back then being so pissed when the 360 released because it felt like I had JUST got my original xbox (maybe two years earlier?). I recall having the thought process "if they're just gonna release a new console every few years why should I buy any of them?" and then I didn't buy a new console for over 15 years. I wish I had maintained that frame of mind in 2023 and never bought a Series S, lmao. I am firmly back on my 'never buying a new console' bullshit now though, thanks 14 year old me.
I have my original Xbox from back then, lent it to my brother in law for a while but got it back last year specifically to start the Halo trilogy again. I tried the Master Chief Collection for about 15 minutes and could tell there were a bunch of changes that alter the creative and gameplay vision of the original (theres no shortage of videos explaining them online). Anyway, I finally started to give it a go yesterday and have already hit my first obstacle. There is a weird visual flickering on screen, enough to interrupt gameplay. I tried different video settings (widescreen, 3:4, PAL 60, HDMI adapter) but it persisted, so I think it may be a hardware failure. Some post online showing the same thing had replies suggesting it could be leaking capacitors or failing GPU.
Kinda annoying, I tested this console out a bit after getting it back last year and it was working fine. I snapped off the clock capacitor at that time (cause it's non essential and a frequent acid leaker after 20 years), and I refreshed the rubber band that pulls the disc drive (by dropping it in boiling water for a bit). Replacing the other capacitors is a good idea anyway, and this was guaranteed to become a problem at some point. I don't have soldering equipment or experience, but can access it via family. While I don't think I will be able to start my Halo journey 2k25 on my original 2003 Xbox, I will for sure get to properly fixing it up eventually for other games and modding!
As for Halo trilogy 2k25, there are a few options... I have had two offers to be loaned an Xbox 360 (one doesn't currently work, the other isn't in the posession of the offerer atm). From what I have read online Halo 1 and 2 should work on a 360 fine enough, but I have seen some people say it's emulated and requires a Xbox brand harddrive from the era? (I'll find out eventually). It may take some time to get one of these 360s, so I might save Halo 3 for then. I DID find something else interesting while looking up this stuff, the original Halo 1 for PC is freely available on a bunch of abandonware sites AND it should be true to the original Combat Evolved release. I might give that a go because I never played Halo 1 on PC before. I am also seeing a similar option may be available for Halo 2 as well, with a small dedicated multiplayer community running their own server software :O
This might be a fun excuse to try a new platform for the two entries I have already played through on Xbox. I'll post updates to the status of my original Xbox later, and probably won't say much more about the games until I hit Halo 3 (I already know 1 and 2 are good). Bye!